McKinley's
by blinkgleek
Summary: Santana works at a grocery store called McKinley's in California while trying to make it as a singer and actress.  She meets those wonderful Glee characters you know and love along the way...and a certain blonde appears and takes her breath away. Brittana
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay, so first, thank you for stopping by to read this. It is very much appreciated. Secondly, yes this is an AU fic. I used to be quite against them, but have recently read a few that blew my mind and thus made me consider writing this. At work this evening, I realized how oddly similar relationships in my own life are to those on Glee. And of course, I am a Brittana fan, so that's ultimately what this is...Brittana is endgame. The first chapter is a bit of intro, but I assure you, once the characters come in to play, then the real story will begin to unravel. As I said, this is based on my own life, but on Glee as well. If you don't enjoy it, I apologize, but if nothing else, it gives me an outlet for the workings of my life. Enjoy. And as nervous as I am, feedback is welcome. Definitely. Brittana fans, don't worry...Brittany will appear very soon.  
>-C<p>

McKinley's

Chapter 1

Santana shot up in her bed and looked around quietly. The room was just beginning to fill with light which meant that she woke up before her alarm…2 minutes before to be exact. Somehow her body had made this a habit as of late, and although she would have been more than annoyed in the past, she couldn't complain these days.

Only 4 short months ago she remembers waking up to the cold and bitter chill in Lima, Ohio. Each day was a struggle as she hoped and prayed every waking (and sleeping) moment that some higher power could sweep her away from the dark, cold lifeless place that Lima had become to her. She wanted to go somewhere where dreams come true and unfortunately, Lima was not it. It seemed an impossible dream then, as singers and actresses don't find fame in the boring Midwest, especially not a place like Lima. Lima's only reason for fame would be providing a story for a good movie of the week, but nothing else.

New York always seemed like the ultimate dream until 6 months ago, when Santana's best friend and soul mate, Blaine, had convinced her to visit Sunny California before making a final decision. Blaine had taken a college leadership trip to San Francisco and knew instantly that if Santana ever set foot in the Golden State, she wouldn't want to leave. Boy did he know her better than she sometimes knew herself. Santana, Blaine, Santana's best friend Mercedes, and Mercedes' husband, Marcus, all took a week long trip to Southern California. Santana organized the whole trip, claiming it was mostly to see her favorite band and one of the most epic concerts of the century, but she secretly knew this was going to be a big piece of the puzzle in trying to figure out life after college.

There was a day towards the end of the trip in which the fantastic four were sightseeing at Venice Beach. Blaine and Santana wandered away from Mercedes and Marcus, giving the couple time alone as they had never taken a true honeymoon yet and this doubled as one for them. Santana slowly trudged through the sand along the shoreline, feeling a bittersweet pull in the bottom of her stomach. She felt so free walking along this massive pool of water they called the ocean, but felt so overwhelmed at the same time. She knew that after seeing the beauty of the water, smelling the sea and the mountains and enjoying the warmth of the sun out west, she couldn't return to the cold dark land of Lima that held nothing for her anymore. Blaine noticed that something was up, as most everyone else at the beach were playing joyously in the water and playing in the sand, and yet, his best friend Santana looked like her dog died.

Blaine decided to try and find out what was going on with his best friend, hoping for the best. "Soooo….is there anything you want to talk about, Santana?"  
>"No….I mean, what? What do you mean? We're on the beach in beautiful California…what is there to talk about? I'm fine. It's beautiful here. That's it." She didn't mean to sound rude, but she was fighting the inner turmoil of knowing this vacation was almost over and real life was coming back to slap her in the face with a cold hard wake up call.<p>

Blaine chuckled before responding, "Yeah, there's the Santana I know…always shutting down when life has the chance to get really good."  
>Santana gave him a look. "Excuse me, I do not shut down!"<br>He grinned and looked out at the ocean. "Oh, of course you don't."  
>She looked out at the sun setting on the horizon. "Shut up, Blaine. I don't…I just…get really bitchy…when I know that life could go a certain way but probably won't because I live in Lima-fucking-Ohio, and good things don't happen to Santana Lopez." Her frown slowly turns into a grin. "Yeah, I do that, don't I?" They both share a laugh.<br>"So, tell me, what are you thinking, Santana?" he asked again, honestly.  
>"I'm thinking," she says slowly, "that I can't go back there. I can't go back to that place. It was great when I went off to college…I mean, college was the first time I could really be me -the true-to-life version of me and not some version I tried to be for everyone else. I could love girls and let everyone know and not have to keep looking over my shoulder to see if someone was whispering about me. But after so many failed relationships with straight girls," Blaine chuckles to himself and slugs Santana in the arm, "and no chance at making it big in the entertainment industry, I just think Lima and the Midwest are over for me. And as much as I wanted to go to New York…I just feel like this is it. THIS is where I'm meant to be…at least at this point in my life. I need to be here. I feel like for the first time in years, I can just…breathe….and I feel…alive. Ya know?" Dammit. She really hated when Blaine made her open up like this. How did he do that? Damn soul mates.<p>

"Well, Santana, let's make a pact, right here and now…within, let's say, ohhhhh, one year. Yes, one year from this month of September, let's move back here, to beautiful California. The land of ocean, mountains, and good old gays like ourselves." Santana, caught off guard by his last few words, laughed loudly.  
>"Did you really have to add that last part in," she asked with a smile.<br>"We are who we are, San. No point in hiding it at this place in our lives, right? We're nothing less than perfect and we should be so…proudly." He put his arm around her to ease her nerves.  
>"Yeah, yeah…what would I do without a friend like you?" She gave him her signature smile.<br>"Well, you'd be crying right now thinking about being in Lima land for the rest of your days. But instead," he flashed his Hollywood smile, "we can now begin focusing on the beauty that will be our lives in Sunny So-Cal. Don't be sad today, San…just you wait. One year from now, we'll be here living our dreams. And who knows, maaaaybe you'll even have a lady in your life. That doesn't require batteries of course," he added quickly with a smile before taking off running. She was definitely going to punch him for that. Or perhaps throw him in the ocean.  
>"Are there sharks here? I really hope so!" she screamed. "I hope they eat you!"<br>"No," he laughed, "but I'm pretty sure there are dolphins."  
>"Well…..dolphins are just gay sharks, anyway," she replied as she ran down the shoreline after him.<p>

Santana smiled as she looked out at the mountains from her bedroom window while fondly recalling that day by the water. The sun was now peeking just over the tip of the landscape. She shook her head slowly, "I can't believe I live here. I can't believe this is all real and that only 2 months after that pact, Blaine and I made it happen." She opened the bedroom window and inhaled the morning mountain air. "Mmmm…I can't believe I get to smell the ocean every morning. God definitely laid a hand." She smiled as the bed moved slightly. She looked over to see Lord Tubbington, Blaine's cat join her on the bed to smell the air with her. "Isn't that right, Tubby?" she asked while giving him a scratch behind the ears. He purred back loudly. "Yeah….the only thing that could make life better now, is if I had a girl to share it with. " Lord Tubbington blinked at her. "What," she said while pushing him away from her, "I can find a girl. Just wait. I didn't come to the land of dreams for nothing." Lord Tubbington keep staring. "Yeah, okay, I didn't come for just a girl either. Buuuut, a singing career might too much to ask for right away. A girl isn't, right?" She realizes she's still talking to a cat. "Omg, I've gotta make some new friends, fast. I'm talking to a frickin' cat. Don't you dare tell anyone about this," she ordered. Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of her phone alarm.  
>"But first…I've gotta get ready for that lovely thing called work. McKinley's, here I come."<p>

Santana enjoyed the walk to work, taking in all of the California scenery and listening to her ipod. Music and landscape was all she needed to start her morning right.  
>"Who needs Wheaties when you've got all this," she thought to herself with a chuckle. She was on her way to McKinley's, a popular grocery chain on the west coast. The retail world was nothing new to Santana as she had previously worked in the apartment industry and at another grocery chain back in Lima. She worked both jobs while going to school and hoped that one of them might take her to her next point life. After moving to CA, she decided she was pretty burnt out on the housing world and wouldn't mind continuing with her experiences in the meatseafood world. Although it sounded a bit crazy for a college grad to want to work with meat and fish every day, Santana found it to be an interesting/alternative way to pay the bills. Sure, she could've tried her hand a being a starving artist, or starving waitress, but there was just something about the meat and seafood world that she couldn't get out of her system. Since beginning work in the department a year and a half ago, she had learned so much about cooking and food in general - such as cuts of meat, types of fish, liquor and beer and how to pair it with a meal….really, the knowledge was endless. She almost felt like she learned more at her job than she did in college. Almost. Crazy how that sometimes works.

She arrived at McKinley's a few minutes before 8, right on time as usual. She couldn't wait to get the day started and see who she could meet today. She headed back to the back room where she began to put on her white meat coat and red apron. She made sure her name tag was on the left, just as they had explained in training. She'd only been working at McKinley's for a month and was still trying to make a good impression. Ultimately, she didn't expect to be working here forever, but wanted to make a good impression while she was here anyway.

As she opened the door to the meat cooler to enter the department, she ran into her co-worker, Finn. She thoroughly enjoyed everything about Finn Hudson, but couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was. Finn was just one of those people you meet in life that you know you were supposed to meet, yet you fear you may never learn why. She already knew that fate or God or some higher power had put her and Finn on the same path, for the simple fact that she and Finn showed up to the same exact interview for McKinley's on the same exact day. Now, that might seem not out of the ordinary, but the interview took place at a completely different store than the one for which they were both hired. They also didn't know at the time that they were both applying for the same position. The level of crazyiness went up a notch when Santana walked into her customer service training class and found Finn sitting with the only empty seat next to him. From the moment she sat down, they instantly knew they'd be friends.

"Hey, how's it going, Santana?" Finn asked with his usual dopey grin.  
>"Oh, another day in paradise. Literally," she said with a smile.<br>"Still not missing Lima Bean, I take it?" he asked with a small chuckle. Lima bean was the nickname Finn had given her former place of residence. He hated lima beans and thus decided that if she hated Lima, OH as much as he hated lima beans, then of course the only way for him to truly feel her hatred would be to nickname it Lima Bean.  
>"You know me so well…for not really knowing me at all," she said with a smile but still not understanding how she already was lucky enough to make a friend like Finn.<br>"Well, if I know you as well as I think I do, I know you'll be just THRILLED,," he said while putting up jazz hands, "to know that Sue is on the rampage right now. Apparently, Jacob is working later today and, well, you know how worthless, I mean, what a good worker Jacob Ben Israel is." His frown slowly turned upwards into a smile.  
>Santana put on her hat with a sigh. "Ugh…Sue just had to ruin my mood, right? I mean, I love this place, but seriously, how is Jacob still working here? He's the laziest piece of sh-"<br>"GOOD morning ladies!" Sue exclaimed while literally popping out from nowhere. Finn and Santana looked at each other. Did she just say ladies? "I mean, Lady and Santana. As much as I love my team exchanging pleasantries, I love even more when they get to wrappin' and I'm not talking Tupac or Christmas presents. Get out there and wrap up some meat and seafood. I'm sure you've heard Jacob, aka, "talks-a-lot-and-does-very-little" will be making an 8 hour appearance later today, and as such I need you two to _actually_do some work around here. So, enough with the warm up, get going with the routine. And as usual, I'll just go sit in the back and do…uh, paperwork, You know, the fancy shmancy behind the scenes work that runs the show. See you in two hours." And before they could even get a word in, Sue was gone with her meat coat flowing behind her.

"I don't know who has it made more, Ben or Sue," Santana said while walking into the meat department.  
>"Wait, did she call me a lady?" Finn asked still standing in the same spot. "And wait, what does that make you, Santana? Santana?" He looked up realizing she was already gone. "Oh, man. This place is definitely something else," he said as he ran to catch up with her<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thank you so much for reading the first chapter and continuing on. It is very much appreciated. Best Christmas Ever. Haha jk. Anyway, Just wanted to let you know that Jacob won't be around for long, and you will be seeing the other characters, COUGH COUGH BRITTANY COUGH, soon enough. ;) Happy reading.

Chapter 2

"I'd like 4 chicken kabobs and 4 beef kabobs….actually, make that 5 chicken kabobs and 3 beef. You see, my daughter is on this 'I don't eat beef kick"…." _Well if she says she's a vegetarian, then you might want to have a talk, _Santana thought to her self. With a small stifled laugh, Santana quickly drowned out annoying customer number 5 that day. It's not that she didn't care about _customer service_, it's just that some people REALLY felt the need to share their entire life stories to anyone who would listen. Santana was starting to think this might be what she calls the California Complex. She really didn't remember such crazy customers back in Lima.

Finn stood a couple of feet away staring at the customer; to the average onlooker, however, it looked as though he was staring off into space. "You might want to be careful; it looks like you're drooling," Santana said with a slight smile."Huh…wait, what?" Finn asked as he ran his hand along his chin. Was he really drooling? "No, I just don't get some of these people. Do I really care why they want certain kabobs? No. If we sold toilet paper from this service case, do you think they'd tell us what their butt feels like today?"Santana laughed extremely loud which made a group of passing customers look into the meat department. "Hi, are you finding everything alright," she quickly covered. "Did I hear laughter, ladies?" Oh no. That could only be one person: Sue. She had this tendency to pop up whenever fun was about to begin. She was like the ultimate buzz kill…of life. "Laughter," she continued, "means that work is done, and the meat world never stops, so work can't POSSIBLY be done. Sandy, why don't you put out more fish…perhaps maybe some trout?" _Eww_, Santana thought. _Trout look weird, no wonder why people don't really buy them. Their mouths are just waiting to suck everything in like a black hole in space. Stupid lips. _

"And you," Sue continued, "Finn the giant, why don't you go organize the freezer. You're the only person here who can do it without a step stool.""Um, first, it's not Sandy," Santana interjected with a scowl. "My name is San…TANA…T…with a t. Not San…Dy…""Oh, okay, well I can't really call you Santy, now can I," Sue retorted.. "Because that, my dear, would allude to listeners that you should be wearing a red suit and that everyone you meet should sit on your lap, and well….that just seems like an HR issue, now doesn't it." Sue stared at Santana as if waiting for a response. "What, no response? Okay wonderful," Sue said before even letting Finn or Santana reply. "I know, fighting the boss man is hard. But you know what's really hard? Try being water boarded, now that's hard! Back to work!"Sue exited the meat department as the swinging door came crashing back and forth. A few customers tried to approach her upon her exit but she pretended to bird watch and ran as they looked up. How did that even work IN DOORS?Finn and Santana just shared an annoyed look and returned to their work.

Hours later, Santana was staring a trout dead in the eyes. _Ha, a dead trout in the dead eyes_. Oh man, she really needed to get a life."So, yeah, Rachel, I think that we should hang out some time." Jacob Ben Israel was going on and on to some girl that Santana had yet to officially meet. Was this girl actually interested in talking to this bizarre meat kid? "I'd really love to interview you. You know, up close and personal with my camera." _Oh, cause that isn't weird. AT ALL._"Hello, are you new here?" Santana felt someone staring at her. She looked up to find the girl in question staring at her. "Oh, uh, hi. Yeah, I'm pretty new here I guess you could say. I'm Santana, nice to meet you." Santana extended her hand as the other girl accepted it. She was overwhelmed by the girl's good looks as she examined her for the first time. Long brown hair led into dark brown eyes. Normally, brown eyes weren't really Santana's weak spot, but she couldn't deny that this girl was attractive. "I'm Rachel," the girl continued, "Rachel Berry. I work in produce, so I'll probably be seeing you around, you know, since our departments are practically touching," she added with a huge smile. _Touching, yes, wait, I'm still touching her. Oh crap._ Santana quickly retracted her hand. _Oh, no. I can't like this girl. She looks OBVIOUSLY straight and after all my troubles with those types in Lima, I cannot go down that road…quite yet. Plus, she appears to be not completely repulsed by Ben-Dover…uh, I mean Jacob Ben, so the alarm on the crazy meter is already going off. STAY AWAY._"Produce, you have a call on 2 0 1," the loudspeaker rang out. _I'm really finding this automated system to be annoying as hell._"Well," Rachel said as she headed for the door, "its been nice chatting with you Jacob, and nice meeting you, Santana," she said as she smiled widely and winked at me. _Did she really just WINK at me? I don't even know how to take that. _"AAaaahhhh….she's pretty." I glanced over to see Jacob creepily melting in his pants. _Sick._ "Uh, shouldn't you go take a break or something, Jacob?" I asked hoping he would get out of my ten foot radius."But, you hate when I take breaks, Santana, because you say I'm always on one.""Yes, as I said, shouldn't you go take a break?" I really just wanted the creep to get as far from me as possible. Plus, I needed to devise a plan to figure out more about this Rachel girl…not that I was interested, but it would help to get the inside info on the rest of the store from someone other than the creep with the video camera."Ken, please call 1212. Ken, please call 1212." _Ken, who is that? I haven't met that guy yet, but he really seems to get called a lot._

"Hey," Santana directed at Jacob. "Who is that Ken guy that everyone keeps calling for on the intercom?" "Ohhh, that's Ken Tanaka. He's the ass man," Jacob replied without a second thought."Wait, what did you just say?" Perhaps Santana misunderstood him."No, I said ass man. You know, like ASSISTANT manager. Hahaha…" Jacob kept chuckling to himself as if he told the best dirty joke of the day. _Sick._"Oh, well what is he like?" Santana wanted to know more about someone that was pretty much directly above her in the grocery chain. She'd been here for over a month and still never seen the guy. That had to say something, right?"Eh….," Jacob appeared as though he were trying to find the right words. "He's a nice guy…he just seems…to be a pretty crappy boss, that's all." Could it be? A real honest answer from the slacker in the meat department? "He probably won't be here much longer, though. He's gay.""Wait, what? He's gay so they're getting rid of him?" Santana was furious. This had to be Jacob being an idiot when it came to facts."No, I mean I think he's transferring stores, but also, he happens to be gay. You've really gotta learn to keep up," Jacob said as if Santana had the brain ability of an infant."Oh, well who would they get to replace him if he leaves?" Santana somehow felt like she already missed him even though she didn't know him. _Eh, screw it. Everything happens for a reason. Bring it on!_Little did she know, the universe was about to bring it. For sure.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hello, All. Sorry for the lack of updates the past 2 days. I was a bit under the weather and then doing some last minute shopping for Christmas gifts. Now, it's time to work on my gifts for all of you. UPDATES. :) This chapter is a bit short but I plan on having at least 1 or 2 more put up today. I bet the best gift I could give would be to get to Brittana already, right? Right. I'm on it.

Also, thank you so much for adding the story to your favorites and for getting the story alerts. It's makes my heart flutter every time I see them in my email. Perhaps one of you might review soon as well. Huh? Anyone? :)

Okay, here goes chapter 3. Enjoy the bestie bonding call. And this chapter goes out to _my_ Bestie, who lives 1500 miles away and would totally have this conversation with me.

I forgot to add this in the last 2, so here it is now-

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters on Glee. I do own my own life and the things that happen in it in which I create original storylines. If RIB wants my ideas, they better hook me up. :) Merry Christmas!

Chapter 3

"_So work sounds awesome, but get to the DIRT," _Santana's friend of 8 years urged over the phone.

"Ha, _dirt_? Mercedes, really?" Santana avoided the question, not because she wouldn't be honest with her best friend, but more because she didn't feel there was any interesting dirt as of late in her lack of a love life.

_"Girl, you __**know**__ what I mean. You can't tell me," _Mercedes continued, _"that you moved your ass 22 HUNDRED miles to the land of beautiful girls and sunshine and there ain't no dirt." _A slow grin spread across the Latina's face. She could tell Mercedes wasn't going to stop quite yet. _"You had girls fallin' at your feet left and right and now, all of a sudden, there's no DIRT? You can't fool me. Oh hell to the no!"_ Santana paused. She's done now, right? Still silence._"_

_Santana!"_

"Yes, Mercedes, I'm still here," Santana said with a chuckle. "Listen, you know I would tell you if something of importance were happening around here, but there's just nothing to tell." Well, except for that Rachel Smiles a Lot girl…but is that even really worth it? Nah, she thought. Not at all.

_"What I __**know**__ is sometimes you have dirt, but you just wait until the very last minute and then make me feel like I'm watching a damn show with all your cliffhangers. I already live across the damn country from you, so I need As. Many. Details. As. I. Can. Get. Got it?" _Oh, Mercedes. Way to give it to me straight. That's what best friends are for, Santana thought with a smile.

"Listen, 'Cedes. I will not hold out on you…I _promise_. When the good stuff happens, trust me, you'll be the first to know. Okay?" Santana hoped that would suffice.

"_Okay, I'm gonna trust your ass this time, but don't think you can keep this up for long, okay? Alright, I gotta run," _Mercedes said, letting her off the hook. Phew, saved by the bell. "_Marcus and I are making dinner tonight and I think he might even clean! Woo! Whatta man!" _she said with a laugh_. "Alright, well give a hug and a kiss to Blaine for me, and I'll text you soon. Love you, girl!"_

"Love you, too, Mercedes." Santana ended the call and looked at Lord Tubbington sitting on the porch railing. "Man, Tubby…I've gotta find some dirt. Gotta find some dirt fo sho."Lord Tubbington stared at Santana, blinked once, hopped down and ran inside. "The _cat _doesn't even think I can find dirt. Damn."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Santana was taking the trash to the back door by the loading dock. "Please don't break, please don't break, please don't break," she said as if it were a mantra to keep the bag of bloody packages from breaking. "Okay, so Jacob said to put this by the back door and someone would be by to throw it out later," she said to herself. Although it seemed rude to her to leave the bloody trash for someone else to take out, she really had no other option as the back door was locked and could only be opened by a keyholder such as Ken.

Just as Santana walked back to the meat department, Ken Tanaka paged over the intercom, "MEAT department, come to receiving, NOW!" _Well, that was pleasant. NOT. Oh great, what did I do wrong._ Santana quickly walked back to the doors by the dock to find Ken staring at the trash and tapping his foot. _Hmmm, looks like he's in a good mood._

"You. Did you put this here?" he asked pointing at the bag that was now leaking all over the floor. _Okay, first of all, I have a name. And secondly, that bag was totally not leaking when I left it there. I bet the ass tried to move it and it ripped open. Normally, I'd care, but I lost my ability to care when he stopped caring that I have a name. Boy, would I love to go all Lima Heights on his ass. Oh shit, he's still staring at me. I should probably answer now._

"Um, yes. I, _Santana_," she added in hopes that maybe he'd use her name next time, "put that there. The bag was full and it was time to take it out." So where's the crime?

"Well, Santana," he said as snooty as possible, "it doesn't go there, so STOP doing it." Santana was starting to think Jacob Ben Israel was right for once: this guy was definitely an _Ass_-man.

"Well, Ken, what am I supposed to do with trash when I can't take it outside because _you _have the key to the door," she snapped back. He deserved to look like an idiot.

It looked as though Ken hit a mental block and he looked around frantically for a retort. 'Well, what I meant was," he said defiantly, 'that you can't put the trash by the _lock_ or else I can't access it to open the fucking door. _That's_ what I mean. So stop doing it. Also, this bag is open and blood is all over the floor, so clean it up." _Is he serious? He ripped it open and I have to clean it up?_

"Yes, it's your department, your mess, so you can clean it up. And hurry, we're busy today so you need to get back to your department." He walked off looking smug. What a dick. "I hate that guy," Santana mumbles furiously under her breath as she kneeled down to pick up the mess. "I really, really hate that guy.

_Hours later…_

"_A singer in a smokey room…" _Santana heard the male voice singing, but didn't really question it. It was almost as if it were in her own head. She constantly had a soundtrack going, so this just seemed to be the current song on shuffle in her head. Being a naturally gifted singer, she would often burst into song regardless of who was listening.

"The smell of wine and cheap perfuuuume," she sang out. Suddenly she didn't hear the other voice anymore. _Hey, where did the music go? Oh, well, I'll just keep singing._

"For a smile they can share the night." _Oh, wait, I hear it now. Wait, is that Finn? _She looked over and Finn was staring at her with a confused look yet still grinning. He could sing. And she could sing. And neither of them knew. Nor did they know they both enjoyed a good Journey classic.

"It goes on and on and on and on," they continued together.

"Excuse me!" Dammit, a customer cut them off. _So much for the meat shop duet, _Santana thought in annoyance. "Hey, was that music coming from back here?" the customer inquired.

"Ha, yeah that would be us," Finn said slowly. "We like to keep ourselves entertained while the boss is away." He looked at Santana and winked. She loved this kid more and more each day…platonically, of course.

"Well, you guys are fantastic!" the old man replied. "_Just_ fantastic. Perhaps you should get rid of this satellite crap radio that plays on repeat and we can just broadcast you two throughout the store. I'd certainly enjoy shopping more," he said with a huge cheshire grin."Well thank you, sir," Santana said with a shy smile. "We'll…try to keep up the good work, right Finn?" She winked at Finn. Finn laughed as he turned on the charm. "Uh, yes sir. We will. Now, would you like any meat to go with your song today?" "Oh, don't worry, I'll be sure to buy something pricey. I'll keep the ole' Grinch off your backs." The old man chuckled and wandered on down the aisle with his cart. _Ole' Grinch?" Was he referring to Sue? How did that guy know she was a pain in the ass? Perhaps some people aren't so blinded by her bullsh-_

"Ladies, ladies, ladies…I feel as though there were too many notes of joyous glee coming from back here." Sue looked around as if to find the culprits yet she already knew it was her two best employees. "Jacob" and "best employee" did not belong in the same sentence of course. "If we sold records," she patronized, "I'm sure that would be appropriate, but what do we sell here?" Sue walked around to the cutting blocks and picked up a rib rack. "Oh, what do we have here?" she asked, turning it around in her hands as if examining a foreign object. Sue could be such a _bitch_ sometimes. Correction, _every_ time. "Ohhh, Finn? What _is_ this?" She stared at him waiting for an answer. Yes, she was really doing this. "Finn?""Uh…it's a rib rack," he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that you say? You see, I couldn't hear you as loudly as when you were so gleeful earlier…"

"It's a RIB RACK, Sue. Because we sell ribs here," he continued a little more bravely. He managed to sound brave and uninterested at the same time. Give the monster what she wants and she'll go away. He knew the tricks. Smart kid. "And meat. And Santana sells seafood, too." Oh, now he was just being a smart ass. _I love it._

"Well, well," Sue geared up for her big comeback. "It looks like Finn brought balls to the game today, doesn't it Santana?" _Oh hell no, she is not bringing me into this. I need a quick save. Come on, come on, think!_

"Balls?" a male voice said from beyond the counter. The swinging meat door flew open. "Did somebody say something about balls?" _Phew! Saved by the…Tanaka? Seriously? The ass is back…but he just said balls. _Santana and Finn immediately looked at each other and struggled to stifle their laughs. Of course Ken would be talking about balls.

"Oh heeeey there, Ken. I was just having a quick team huddle here," she said as she neared Finn and slapped him on the back. He cringed instantly. "We're just discussing our world class customer service, right team?" If any time were a good time, this would be the perfect time to throw _Coach_ Sue under the bus. Finn and I stared at each other. We mentally agreed to let her sweat for one more minute."Yes, Ken, we were," Santana said ending the silence. "We were discussing how proud Sue is of _our_ world class service. Thanks for the support, _Sue_." Santana glared at Sue. Sue smiled a thin smile as if to say "_Just wait until I write the schedule, Lopez. Just wait."_Ken stared at each of them wondering why the air was so thick. He also managed to avoid making any unnecessary eye contact with Santana after their previous encounter.

"Well, uh, wonderful. Glad you're doing such a great job leading the team back here, Sue. Way to keep the rookies in line," he added with a wink. _Eww. No one in their right mind would hit on Sue…and if Tanaka was making the effort, he was seriously covering for some deep rooted issues. _Santana glanced at Finn's disgusted face and almost choked back a laugh."Well, team, I just came by to say that I'll be leaving you soon. And I wanted to say it's been a pleasure working with you…Sue." _Um, hello. Finn and Santana may have not been working there long, but they were co-workers, nonetheless. __What am I thinking? Good riddance is more like it!_

"Ken…noooo….really? So sad to see you go. Why the move?" Sue asked pretending to care. She didn't. She never did.

"Oh," he began awardly, "uh, that's not…quite so important…um, oh wait I think I hear someone calling me. Gotta go, team. Busy, busy day. Plenty of people to say goodbye to, you know." He flashed an uneasy awkward smile and ran through the swinging door.

"Hey, Ken!" Santana shouted as he ran by. "Who will be your replacement? What's his name?" Hopefully, not another tool like Tanaka, and definitely not someone who would even _think_ of hitting on Sue.

"_Her_ name" he yelled back. _What? Her name? Well, of course it was possible that it could be a woman. It's just that, even at the store in Lima, she had never had a female assistant manager._

"Oh, it's a woman?" Santana asked to clarify.

"Yes, that's why I said 'her' name," he said with an annoyed look. "But you'll also get to meet the actual store manager, now, too." _Yeah, where has she been this whole time? Someone said she was out on sick leave or something. _

"You'll love the Beiste. Everyone does," he said with a genuine smile. _Um, the Beast? What the hell does that mean?_

"Oh, and it's Brittany," Ken said as if Santana and Finn should know exactly what he meant. They looked at each other as clueless as ever. _First "the Beast" and now "Brittany?" _

"The new assistant manager? Her name," he said with a slight pause, "is Brittany."


End file.
